Affiliated Programs

Friends of Korea- External Sponsorship

The Sigur Center has enjoyed a broad array of fruitful partnerships with a number of Korea-focused organizations for many years and has regularly hosted visiting scholars from throughout Korea for more than a decade. One of our most important relationships has been with the Korea Foundation. The Sigur Center has been pleased to work with the Korea Foundation to promote Korean Studies in a variety of ways. The Korea Foundation has provided generous support for a professorship in Korean History and another in Korean politics and thus the Korea Foundation is a critical component of the Korean Studies program at The George Washington University. The Sigur Center and the Korea Foundation also regularly work together to organize conferences and events on relevant Korean Studies topics. In 2007, the Korea Foundation selected the Sigur Center as its Washington, DC partner for the new Global Speakers Forum.

Another long-standing partner of the Sigur Center has been the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA). The Sigur Center originally signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with ROKA in 2003 and renewed the MOU for another five years in 2008. Under this partnership, ROKA sends one flag officer and two field grade officers to serve as visiting scholars at the Sigur Center every year. This relationship has been beneficial to both sides as it has allowed the GW community to hear first-hand from senior leadership in ROKA on security issues on the Korean Peninsula while it has given the Korean officers a unique experience to learn from US-based Korea experts and network with other scholars in the DC area.

In addition to our annual commitment to host ROKA visiting scholars, the Sigur Center typically has a number of academics and researchers from Korea in residence at any given time. In fact, the Sigur Center has hosted more than 30 visiting scholars from Korea since 1993. Visiting scholars have been accepted from Ewha Womans University, Hanshin University, Sogang University, Taejon University, and wide spectrum of government offices and ministries, and from civil society actors.

Korea is an integral part of the Sigur Center's Rising Powers Initiative which is funded in part by the MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Project focuses on Power and Identity in Asia and implications for regional security cooperation. The Korea Study is led by Sigur Center's Gregg Brazinsky in collaboration with colleagues from Korea. Two members of the Sigur Center faculty traveled to Korea in July 2010 to attend the MacArthur Foundation's Asia Security Initiative meeting. More information on this project can be found HERE.

Supporting the Friends of Korea Studies

Your contribution may be made by visiting the GW Online Giving webpage. Be sure to select "Other" for the gift designation and type "Friends of Korea Studies - Sigur Center for Asian Studies."